Insect decline in the Anthropocene: Death by a thousand cuts
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SPECIAL FEATURE:
SPECIAL FEATURE: INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Insect decline in the Anthropocene: Death by a
thousand cuts
David L. Wagnera,1, Eliza M. Gramesa, Matthew L. Foristerb, May R. Berenbaumc, and David Stopakd
Nature is under siege. In the last 10,000 y the human status of insects, the Entomological Society of Amer-
population has grown from 1 million to 7.8 billion. ica hosted a symposium at their Annual Meeting in St.
Much of Earth’s arable lands are already in agriculture Louis, Missouri, in November 2019. The Society was
(1), millions of acres of tropical forest are cleared motivated to do so by the many inquiries about the
each year (2, 3), atmospheric CO2 levels are at their validity of claims of rapid insect decline that had been
highest concentrations in more than 3 million y (4), and received in the months preceding the annual meeting
climates are erratically and steadily changing from and by the many discussions taking place among
pole to pole, triggering unprecedented droughts, members. The entomological community was in need
fires, and floods across continents. Indeed, most biol- of a thorough review and the annual meeting pro-
ogists agree that the world has entered its sixth mass vided a timely opportunity for sharing information.
extinction event, the first since the end of the Creta- The goal of the symposium was to assemble world
ceous Period 66 million y ago, when more than 80% of experts on insect biodiversity and conservation and
all species, including the nonavian dinosaurs, perished. ask them to report on the state of knowledge of insect
Ongoing losses have been clearly demonstrated population trends. Speakers were asked to identify
for better-studied groups of organisms. Terrestrial ver- major data gaps, call attention to limitations of
tebrate population sizes and ranges have contracted existing data, and evaluate principal stressors under-
by one-third, and many mammals have experienced lying declines, with one goal being to catalyze activ-
range declines of at least 80% over the last century (5). ities aimed at mitigating well-substantiated declines.
A 2019 assessment suggests that half of all amphib- All 11 talks were recorded and are available on the
ians are imperiled (2.5% of which have recently gone Entomological Society of America’s website, https://
extinct) (6). Bird numbers across North America have www.entsoc.org/insect-decline-anthropocene. Although
fallen by 2.9 billion since 1970 (7). Prospects for the this special PNAS volume is anchored to the St. Louis
world’s coral reefs, beyond the middle of this century, presentations, that effort is extended here to include
could scarcely be more dire (8). A 2020 United Nations new data, ideas, expanded literature reviews, and
report estimated that more than a million species are in many additional coauthors.
danger of extinction over the next few decades (9), but
also see the more bridled assessments in refs. 10 and 11. What’s in This Special Issue?
Although a flurry of reports has drawn attention to The 11 papers in this collection examine insect decline
declines in insect abundance, biomass, species rich- from geographic, ecological, sociological, and taxo-
ness, and range sizes (e.g., refs. 12–18; for reviews see nomic perspectives; evaluate principal threats; delve
refs. 19 and 20), whether the rates of declines for in- into how the general public perceives news of insect
sects are on par with or exceed those for other groups declines; and offer opinions on actions that can be
remains unknown. There are still too little data to know taken to protect insects. Insect declines have been the
how the steep insect declines reported for western focus of a range of popular media, with widely varying
Europe and California’s Central Valley—areas of high levels of accuracy. Consequently, a core intention of
human density and activity—compare to population this special issue is to provide a scientifically grounded
trends in sparsely populated regions and wildlands. assessment of insect population trends; contributors
Long-term species-level demographic data are mea- were urged to provide critical evaluations of raw data,
ger from the tropics, where considerably more than published studies, and reviews, given that a few of the
half of the world’s insect species occur (21, 22). To more highly publicized reports of insect decline suf-
consider the state of knowledge about the global fered from unjustified assumptions, analytic issues, or
a
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269; bDepartment of Biology, Program in Ecology, Evolution and
Conservation Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557; cDepartment of Entomology, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Champaign,
IL 61801; and dNational Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC 20002
Author contributions: D.L.W., E.M.G., M.L.F., M.R.B., and D.S. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no competing interest.
Published under the PNAS license.
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1
To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: david.wagner@uconn.edu.
Published January 11, 2021.
PNAS 2021 Vol. 118 No. 2 e2023989118 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023989118 | 1 of 10
overextrapolation. For example, Willig et al. (23) and Schowalter additional stressors, such as insecticides, herbicides, urbanization,
et al. (24) provide data that insect numbers have not generally and light pollution. In areas of high human activity, where insect
declined in Puerto Rico’s Luquillo Experimental Forest, directly declines are most conspicuous, multiple stressors occur simulta-
contradicting Lister and Garcia’s (25) claims of catastrophic collapse neously. Considerable uncertainty remains about the relative im-
of the insect fauna, with linked effects to the forest’s amphibian, portance of these stressors, their interactions, and the temporal
reptile, and bird fauna. Hallmann et al. (26) model relationships and spatial variations in their intensity. Hallmann et al. (13), in their
among insect biomass, abundance, and diversity of hover flies, and review of the dramatic losses of flying insects from the Krefeld
explore how these measures interrelate in empirical and theoretical region, noted that no simple cause had emerged and that
contexts. Many of the 11 contributions end with prospective ele- “weather, land use, and [changed] habitat characteristics cannot
ments that draw attention to data gaps, make methodological explain this overall decline. . .” When asked about his group’s
recommendations, and point to specific actions that may help in- early findings of downward population trends in insects (12), Dirzo
sect populations and species survive (27–29). summed up his thinking by stating that the falling numbers were
likely due to a “multiplicity of factors, most likely with habitat
Loss of Abundant Species. Although conservation efforts have destruction, deforestation, fragmentation, urbanization, and ag-
historically focused attention on protecting rare, charismatic, and ricultural conversion being among the leading factors” (40). His
endangered species, the “insect apocalypse” presents a different assessment seems to capture the essence of the problem: Insects
challenge. In addition to the loss of rare taxa, many reports are suffering from “death by a thousand cuts” (Fig. 1). Taking the
mention sweeping declines of formerly abundant insects [e.g., domesticated honey bee as an example, its declines in the United
Warren et al. (29)], raising concerns about ecosystem function. States have been linked to (introduced) mites, viral infections,
Insects comprise much of the animal biomass linking primary microsporidian parasites, poisoning by neonicotinoid and other
producers and consumers, as well as higher-level consumers in pesticides, habitat loss, overuse of artificial foods to maintain
freshwater and terrestrial food webs. Situated at the nexus of hives, and inbreeding; and yet, after 14+ y of research it is still
many trophic links, many numerically abundant insects provide unclear which of these, a combination thereof, or as yet uniden-
ecosystem services upon which humans depend: the pollination tified factors are most detrimental to bee health.
of fruits, vegetables, and nuts; the biological control of weeds, More than half of the contributions in this collection directly or
agricultural pests, disease vectors, and other organisms that indirectly advance knowledge of particular stressors. Climate
compete with humans or threaten their quality of life; and the change, habitat loss and degradation (especially of tropical for-
macrodecomposition of leaves and wood and removal of dung ests), and agriculture emerged as the three most important
and carrion, which contribute to nutrient cycling, soil formation, stressors considered by our authors, with the first of these re-
and water purification. Clearly, severe insect declines can poten- ceiving the greatest attention in the symposium. Halsch et al. (41)
tially have global ecological and economic consequences. review studies implicating climate effects as drivers of insect
While there is much variation—across time, space, and taxo- population changes and discuss the complexities of responses of
nomic lineage—reported rates of annual decline in abundance species to climatic stress in montane habitats. Janzen and Hall-
frequently fall around 1 to 2% (e.g., refs. 12, 13, 17, 18, 30, and wachs (27) point to a warming and increasingly erratic climate as
31). Because these rates, based on abundance, are likely reflective the most probable stressor underlying the region-wide losses of
of those for insect biomass [see Hallmann et al. (26)], there is moths and other insects that they are monitoring across a large
ample cause for concern (i.e., that some terrestrial regions are and multiecosystem area of northwestern Costa Rica. Høye et al.
experiencing faunal subtractions of 10% or more of their insects (32) assess faunal changes in Greenland, far removed from direct
per decade). To what extent such declines translate into shifts or human impacts, and report only a modest signal of climate im-
losses of ecosystem function has yet to be assessed. pacts to the arthropod fauna there, with many lineages increasing
Not all insects are declining. Four papers in this special issue in abundance. Schowalter et al. (24) present new data suggesting
note instances of insect lineages that have not changed or have that insect responses to temperatures within Puerto Rico’s Luquillo
increased in abundance (24, 29, 32, 33). Many moth species in Experimental Forest, a hurricane-mediated ecosystem, are driven
Great Britain have demonstrably expanded in range or population principally by frequent storms and poststorm successional history
size (34–36). Numerous temperate insects, presumably limited by rather than by global climate warming. Three contributions from
winter temperatures, have increased in abundance and range, in north temperate and Arctic locations point to range expansions or
response to warmer global temperatures (29, 32, 35; but see ref. local population increases concomitant with warming temperatures
37). Anthropophilic and human-assisted taxa, which include many (29, 32, 33), with the last of these noting examples of range exten-
pollinators, such as the western honey bee (Apis mellifera) in sions accompanied by declines in local abundance.
North America, may well thrive due to their associations with Many of the butterfly declines in Europe appear to be directly
humans. Increasing abundances of freshwater insects have been linked to changes in agricultural practices, with the rate of losses
attributed to clean water legislation, in both Europe and North accelerating after World War II, when family farms began to
America (17, 18). In some places, native herbivores have flour- amalgamate into larger commercial operations, modern tractors
ished by utilizing nonnative plants as adult nectar sources or larval and mechanized equipment were employed to accelerate in-
foodplants (38), and there are even instances where introduced dustrialization of agriculture, insecticides became widely avail-
plants have rescued imperiled species (39). able, and synthetic fertilizers could be manufactured and applied
in prodigious volume (1, 16, 23, 42). Since the 1990s, the com-
The Stressors. Abundant evidence demonstrates that the prin- puterization of farming has dramatically changed the nature of
cipal stressors—land-use change (especially deforestation), cli- agriculture (e.g., software-driven machinery can yield numerous
mate change, agriculture, introduced species, nitrification, and efficiencies in planting, chemical applications, and harvest), fur-
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pollution—underlying insect declines are those also affecting ther disadvantaging small-scale operations and practices. Much
other organisms. Locally and regionally, insects are challenged by modern agriculture has become incompatible with nature, with its
2 of 10 | PNAS Wagner et al.
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023989118 Insect decline in the Anthropocene: Death by a thousand cuts
Fig. 1. Death by a thousand cuts: Global threats to insect diversity. Stressors from 10 o’clock to 3 o’clock anchor to climate change. Featured
insects: Regal fritillary (Speyeria idalia) (Center), rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) (Center Right), and Puritan tiger beetle (Cicindela
puritana) (Bottom). Each is an imperiled insect that represents a larger lineage that includes many International Union for Conservation of Nature
“red list” species (i.e., globally extinct, endangered, and threatened species). Illustration: Virginia R. Wagner (artist).
effects in the tropics especially worrisome. There deforestation, The chronic effects of nitrification, mostly from the combustion
principally for agricultural expansion, is progressing at alarming of fossils fuels and the manufacture of more than 200 million tons
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rates, with its effects on insects and other arthropods essentially of reactive nitrogen (mostly for fertilizer) annually, is now widely
unmeasured (1). recognized as a major global stressor of insect and plant diversity
Wagner et al. PNAS | 3 of 10
Insect decline in the Anthropocene: Death by a thousand cuts https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023989118(34, 42–44). Similarly, there is mounting evidence that light pol- alpine systems, low-nutrient communities, island biotas, and
lution is driving local declines in suburban and urban locations (45, others (Fig. 2). A common finding across many reports of insect
46). Although not an emphasis of the 11 articles, urbanization is decline is that the rates of decline for ecological specialists are
increasingly recognized as an important stressor (47, 48). much steeper than those for more generalized taxa (e.g., refs. 29,
33, 42, 54, and 55). Based on first principles, taxa representing
Assessing Insect Population Trends is Difficult and the Details higher trophic levels (e.g., insect parasitoids, and in turn their
are Important. Essential time-series data on the rates, geo- parasites) would be expected to be suffering some of the highest
graphic scope, ecological aspects, and taxonomic nature of insect rates of decline, a matter where data are especially scant (but see
population trends are scant, relative to those for vertebrates. Most refs. 27 and 56). Studies of divergent taxa or heterogeneous lo-
insect taxa are far more species-rich than vertebrate taxa; there cations need to employ appropriate hierarchical analyses and
are more than a million described species of insects and even the exercise caution in accepting hypotheses of change or stasis,
most modest estimates calculate that another 4.5 to 7 million especially when statistical power is low.
remain unnamed (21, 22). Species-level taxonomy for many line-
ages is challenging and often effectively nonexistent, especially History of Insect Decline Reports
for tropical faunas (which represent the majority of insect diver- An early high-profile data-driven study garnering global attention
sity); identifying tiny species can involve microscopic study, gen- for the status of butterflies in Europe was the 2004 report by
italic dissection, and DNA analysis, requiring equipment and Thomas et al. in Science (57), which documented that the rate of
expertise far beyond that needed for the censusing of vertebrates butterfly decline in Great Britain was comparable with or excee-
or plants. As a consequence, essentially all historical datasets that ded those known for birds and plants. Colony collapse disorder
could be used to study insect decline have been biased toward and the honey bee’s struggles with the ectoparasitic varroa mite
agriculturally important and showy, well-known, extratropical taxa and viral infections were among the first cases to draw global
with long histories of public interest. Even for butterflies, historical attention to insect decline. In 2007, the National Research Council
demographic data are limited, deriving primarily from a few his- of the National Academy of Sciences (58) released a high-profile
torically wealthy countries with a relatively deep record of natural report on the status of pollinators in North America, warning of
history study. long-term downward population trends in commercial honey
An especially challenging aspect of interpreting insect demo- bees that brought attention to the plights of several bumble bees,
graphic data are their episodic generation-to-generation swings. the monarch butterfly, and other pollinators, especially in Europe,
Documenting a 1 to 2% rate of annual decline against a back- that appeared to be in decline [see Althaus et al. (59)].
ground of flux that may swing through two to three orders of Dirzo et al.’s (12) “Defaunation in the Anthropocene” was the
magnitude in as many years often requires decades of census first metaanalysis to report global cross-lineage insect losses for
data, the collection of which can be labor-intensive and expen- beetles, dragonflies, grasshoppers, and butterflies. Across 16
sive. Additionally, because many insects are ecologically spe- studies, insect populations had declined by 45% in the last four
cialized and their home ranges minuscule, even small-scale spatial decades. In spring 2017, Vogel (60) published early findings from
variation in environmental conditions (e.g., soil attributes or veg- Germany’s Krefeld Entomological Society (Entomologischer Ver-
etation height) can add heterogeneity to census data (49, 50). ein Krefeld), documenting steep, unexplained reductions of flying
One way that researchers have dealt with the complexity of insects, across more than 60 sites in northwest Germany (all within
population-level stochasticity in insects is to aggregate data at preserves). Later that year, the first peer-reviewed report in En-
higher taxonomic levels: For example, using total insect biomass glish from the Krefeld data appeared (13): Flying insect biomass
as a proxy for biodiversity, or aggregating data across different had dropped by 76% in 27 y, a finding that made global headlines.
sites. Studies that generalize across datasets, higher taxonomic In publishing her article, “The Insect Apocalypse is Here,” in
categories, or ecological groups (e.g., refs. 17, 18, 51, and 52) the New York Times in December 2018, science writer Brooke
provide much-needed perspectives relevant to ecological func- Jarvis brought much public attention to insect declines (61), in-
tion as, for example, the amount of insect food available to spiring national media attention in newspapers, journals, and ra-
nestlings (53) and other insectivores or the general health of a dio programming. Another wave of media attention accompanied
region’s pollinators. Although data aggregation and meta- Sánchez-Bayo and Wyckhuys (19), a review of global insect de-
analyses are required approaches for understanding global phe- clines with the claim that 40% of insect species might be at risk for
nomena, by their nature, they often overlook species-level trends. extinction in coming decades, an assertion that was met by no
To make predictions about what lineages will be most threat- fewer than six rebuttals and multiple blog posts detailing short-
ened and to inform policymaking and other conservation actions, comings of their review and conclusions. The past 2 y have seen a
it is essential to pay attention to the details and assumptions that sea change in the number of peer-reviewed studies focused on
underlie aggregated, multitaxon, and multiregion analyses. Much insect population trends [see Althaus et al. (59)]: Most of these
resolution is lost when data for insects with different demographic paint a far more complex and heterogeneous picture of the global
features or ecological needs are combined, such as, for example, status of insects than some of the initial reports.
when counts for crop-infesting aphids are analyzed with those for In 2020, three large metaanalyses appeared, two of which
rare, habitat-restricted tiger beetles. Insect biomass is not inter- focused on insects. The first, van Klink et al. (17, 18), examined
changeable across food webs or among major taxa any more than 166 studies with demographic data spanning 9 to 80 y. Their as-
hummingbirds and jaguars can be summed: An abundance of sessment, driven largely by European and North American data-
leafhoppers would be of little value to a nesting pair of warblers, sets, suggested terrestrial insects were declining at a rate close to
relative to an abundance of caterpillars. Much can be learned by 1% per year, while aquatic insects appeared to be increasing in
disambiguating the demographic data harvested from cities and abundance, again by about 1% per year. Pilotto et al. (52) analyzed
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intensively managed croplands from those derived from fragile the abundance, richness, diversity, and faunal turnover for 161
communities: For example, cloud forests, rain forests, Arctic- long-term biological time series (15 to 91 y) for more than 6,000
4 of 10 | PNAS Wagner et al.
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023989118 Insect decline in the Anthropocene: Death by a thousand cutsFig. 2. Fragile communities challenged by global change. (A) Cloud forest, Monteverde, Costa Rica: Threatened by rising global temperatures
that lead to greater numbers of cloud-free days and extended droughts. Image credit: Janet Ellis (photographer). (B) Silversword (Argyroxiphium
sandwicense subsp. macrocephalum) grove, Haleakala National Park, Hawaii: Threatened by diminished water availability and related climate
changes. Image credit: Flickr/Forest and Kim Starr, licensed under CC BY 3.0. (C) Tallgrass prairie, Markham, Illinois: Threatened by agriculture
and insularization. Image credit: Abbie Schrotenboer (Trinity Christian College, Palos Heights, IL). (D) Community composed of endemic Miconia
robinsoniana (sienna-colored shrubs), ferns, and sedges, Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador: Threatened by many exotic plants; the
yellow-green shrub is red quinine tree (Cinchona pubescens), an invasive on many Pacific islands. Image credit: Heinke Jäger (Charles Darwin
Foundation, Galápagos, Ecuador).
European marine, freshwater, and terrestrial animal and plant for a study aimed at calculating long-term rates of decline. Surely,
taxa; 53 of their datasets were for insects. They found that fresh- the greatest threat of the Anthropocene is exactly this: the in-
water insects had increased in diversity (but not abundance). In cremental loss of populations due to human activities. Such sub-
contrast, abundances of European terrestrial insects showed the tractions commonly go uncounted in multidecadal studies (5).
strongest signal of decline across the taxa included in the study.
Crossley et al.’s (51) metaanalysis of insect demographic data Where Are We Now? Although mainstream media in the United
(spanning 4 to 36 y) for 15 long-term ecological research sites States has paid little attention to the plight of pollinators (59),
across the United States, reported no evidence of a continent- some policymakers at the federal level have taken note and made
wide decline of insect abundance. The entomological community millions of dollars available for pollinator research and habitat
is still evaluating the accuracy of these recent findings [see Welti improvement (63, 64) since the National Research Council’s (58)
et al. (62) and Assessing Insect Population Trends Is Difficult and status report on pollinators, and the 2014 petition to list the
the Details are Important, above]. monarch butterfly as a threatened species (65). The Agriculture
An important limitation of assessments based on long-term Improvement Act of 2018 (66) is annually providing many millions
monitoring data are that they come from locations that have of dollars for pollinator research and conservation across the
remained largely intact for the duration of the study and do not United States.
directly reflect population losses caused by the degradation or Funding to support insect conservation research is growing. In
elimination of a specific monitoring site (although effects can be June 2018, the European Union endorsed an initiative to protect
measured in a metapopulation context if the number of years pollinators across member states (67). Germany’s federal gov-
sampled is sufficient in remaining sites). For example, butterfly ernment pledged $118,500,000 for insect conservation, moni-
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censusing sites that have been lost to agriculture, urban devel- toring, and research in September 2019 (68). The Swedish
opment, or exotic plant invasions would not meet inclusion criteria government plans to spend $25 million on pollinator protection
Wagner et al. PNAS | 5 of 10
Insect decline in the Anthropocene: Death by a thousand cuts https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023989118initiatives over the next 3 y (69). In the spring of 2020, the gov- Group’s website have gone from 1.8 million in 2010 to more than
ernment of Costa Rica endorsed a $100 million-effort to inventory 14.7 million in 2019. iNaturalist, an online resource for tax-
and sequence the DNA barcode region of every multicellular onomical identification, currently boasts more than 13,600,000
creature in the country over a decade, with funding to come from insect posts since 2010, with verifiable records from almost every
international sources. Much of the country’s biodiversity will be country in the world (Fig. 3).
insects, with most of these to be captured by Malaise traps, as part
of Costa Rica’s BioAlfa initiative (27). Where from Here?
The European Union and several other countries have passed There remains an urgent need for time-series data so that tem-
legislation to restrict use of some pesticides. Several neon- poral and spatial population trends can be assessed. Such data
icotinoids, insecticides that are commonly applied to seed coats can be used to identify stressors, rates of insect population
and then taken up by the growing tissues, have been banned from changes, and lineages and ecological guilds that are changing in
use on field crops because even a treated plant’s nectar and abundance. As has been noted by others, there are considerable
pollen can be toxic to nontarget insects that visit its flowers (70, biases in the global distribution of insect demographic studies
71). In January 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency re- with the vast majority of long-term data coming from Europe and
leased an interim decision on the use of neonicotinoids in the the United States, areas that collectively support less than 20% of
United States aimed at protecting pollinators (72). Another global insect species diversity (21). Future emphasis must be
downside to the neonicotinoid class of systemic insecticides is placed on acquiring trend data from the tropical regions of the
their environmental persistence: Their half-lives can be up to Americas, Africa, and Asia.
1,000 d in soils and more than a year in woody plants, and their Over the past 2 y, there have been many calls for a step-
water-solubility allows the pesticide to move into and accumulate change in governmental funding to expand insect-monitoring
in soil and lakes, creeks, and other water bodies (73). programs and conservation initiatives, especially across European
Although recent positive actions have been taken by govern- countries. Monitoring efforts that span gradients of anthropo-
ments in Costa Rica, the European Union, Germany, Sweden, and genic stressors will be especially informative. The task of moni-
the United States, changes in national leadership can easily re- toring insects globally will require careful planning (e.g.,
verse environmental initiatives. Under the Trump administration in subsampling) and the adoption of new technologies and meth-
the United States, multiple federal policy changes were made that ods. Efforts are being made to standardize collection methods,
are inimical to conserving biodiversity: mention of climate change establish data-collections norms, and improve data storage and
was pulled from government websites; an Executive Order re- accessibility (75, 76). Insect traps with automated counting ca-
duced the size of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument pacities are under development, some of which employ image- or
in Utah by a half-million acres; and the administration finalized sound-recognition technology to provide species-level data [e.g.,
plans to permit oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Høye et al. (77)]. At present, such automated monitoring can be
The Xerces Society, the largest global group in the United used only for areas of modest insect diversity, where the insect
States promoting insect conservation, has enjoyed considerable fauna is relatively well known. For comprehensive species-level
growth over the past two decades: from a staff of 4 in 2000 to 54
data from hyperdiverse biotas, molecular methods will need to be
full-time employees in 2020. Their major priorities, while still
implemented: For example, by tying identifications to COI se-
rooted to the protection of rare and endangered species and
quence data (barcodes) and the automated assignation of index
fostering a greater appreciation for insects and other inverte-
codes (=Barcode Index Numbers, BINs, ∼species) (78, 79; see
brates, now include focused efforts to protect pollinators, make
also ref. 27).
agriculture more diversity-friendly, reduce pesticide use and im-
While such newly initiated efforts will provide future data for
pacts, and take a more active role in developing policy for the
making informed decisions, they may take a decade or longer
protection of invertebrates. Their current mailings reach about
before they yield data useful for identifying the most severe insect
100,000 individuals, partners, and policymakers across the globe.
declines and the stressors (59). But we need to make many deci-
There are growing numbers of community (citizen) science and
sions and act now: It is particularly urgent to know to what degree
education initiatives to survey, conserve, and raise awareness of
insects and their importance as pollinators, prey, nutrient recy-
clers, and focal organisms in science and technology, as well as
art, literature, and other aspects of culture (28). Monarch Watch
has 55,000 Canadian, Mexican, and US followers, many of whom
are educators. The United Kingdom’s Big Butterfly Count enjoyed
the participation of more than 111,600 community scientists in
2020 (74). Costa Rica’s BioAlfa is a tropical version (27), focused on
having the entire country be appreciative of the socioeconomic
opportunities offered by wild biodiversity. Such actions could play
important roles in changing public attitudes toward insects and
motivate efforts to protect them.
Social media groups with a focus on insects are flourishing.
Facebook groups dedicated to insects are propagating world-
wide, parsed by taxon, geographic region, and even life stage.
Husbandry and pet keeping anchored to insects and other ar-
Fig. 3. iNaturalist popularity: Growth of insect (purple) and
thropods have become popular. The Caterpillar Identification of vertebrate (teal) records from iNaturalist from its inception in 2010 to
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North America Facebook group presently has more than 13,100 present. Each record includes a photograph, occurrence data, and a
members. Page views on the United States’ Moth Photographer wild observation. Data from Ken-ichi Ueda (iNaturalist).
6 of 10 | PNAS Wagner et al.
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023989118 Insect decline in the Anthropocene: Death by a thousand cutsA C
B
Fig. 4. Initial systematic search results from EntoGEM (https://entogem.github.io/): (A) Retrieved studies by order. (B) Locations of retrieved
dipteran studies illustrating broad geographic scope, especially in tropical areas, which have been underrepresented in prior syntheses of insect
decline. (C) Example dipteran data sets identified in initial screening. (Upper) Mosquitoes, trapped at two sites, Maryland, United States (83);
(Lower) black flies, Iceland (53).
climate change is driving losses in the tropics, in mountains, and impossible for all but the most familiar large-bodied lineages.
other wildlands away from pronounced anthropogenic activity. Janzen et al. (84) recovered more than 14,520 “species” (=bar-
Despite the urgent need for data to inform evidence-based code haplotype clusters) of insects from a single Malaise trap in
plans for mitigating or reversing decline, there exist many datasets Costa Rica over 2 consecutive years, probably no more than 2 to
that remain unanalyzed (80). The United States Long-Term Eco- 3% of which have been described by systematists. Armies of
logical Research data recently assessed by Crossley et al. (51) is taxonomists would be needed to sort, name, and curate large trap
just one example of a publicly available dataset that had not been catches from the tropics, and even larger numbers of lifetimes and
previously evaluated. At least two different research teams are resources to describe the world’s tropical insect species. It is likely
currently working through the North American Butterfly Associa- that many will be driven to extinction by anthropogenic stressors
tion’s 4th of July butterfly count data, which include 497 sites with before they can be studied or, worse, their value realized.
over 10 y of species-level demographic data. Other examples In the future, many of the richest sources of occurrence data for
include the insects-as-food data of vertebrate biologists, annual insects will derive from community science efforts. If the growth of
survey data for medically important species, and many monitoring iNaturalist continues at its present rate, the amount of species-
efforts in agricultural settings. Relatively little effort has been level occurrence data for visually identifiable insects may surpass
spent on assessing non-English literature, which may be rich in that of any other single source. Already observational (∼commu-
some Asian countries. EntoGEM (https://entogem.github.io/), a nity science) data for insects in the Global Biodiversity Information
community-driven project to screen literature and other demo- Facility (n > 76,613,000 records) is twice that for specimen data
graphic data sources for insects, aims to retrieve and make (n > 37,350,000 records) (https://www.gbif.org/). Of particular
available time-series data that could be used to document insect value will be the community data deriving from methodologically
population trends (81). Already, EntoGEM and its aggregating standardized and annually repeated surveys such as the United
software have identified more than a hundred 10+-y datasets that Kingdom’s Big Butterfly Count and North American Butterfly As-
have not been referenced in any reviews, commentaries, or sociation’s 4th of July counts.
metaanalyses of insect decline (82) (Fig. 4). Even without much-needed monitoring and demographic
The paucity of population trend data for insects, especially data, enough is already known, based on first principles and re-
from the tropics and elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere, is not cords for amphibians, birds, flowering plants, mammals, reptiles,
for lack of want or methodology, but instead traces to small or insects, and other taxa, to understand that a biodiversity crisis is
nonexistent budgets, combined with the hyperdiversity, small accelerating as the planet’s human population grows, increasingly
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size, and inchoate taxonomy of insects, which, together, make the exacerbated by unprecedented recent climate changes and other
processing and identification of most tropical insect species anthropogenic stressors. Time is not on our side, and urgent
Wagner et al. PNAS | 7 of 10
Insect decline in the Anthropocene: Death by a thousand cuts https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023989118Fig. 5. Insect diversity. (A) Pennants (Libellulidae): Dragonflies are among the most familiar and popular insects, renowned for their appetite for
mosquitoes. (B) Robber flies (Asilidae): These sit-and-wait predators often perch on twigs that allow them to ambush passing prey; accordingly
they have enormous eyes. (C) Katydids (Tettigoniidae): This individual is one molt away from having wings long enough to fly (that also will be
used to produce its mating song). (D) Bumble bees (Apidae): Important pollinators in temperate, montane, and subpolar regions especially of
heaths (including blueberries and cranberries). (E) Wasp moths (Erebidae): Compelling mimics that are hyperdiverse in tropical forests; many are
toxic and unpalatable to vertebrates. (F) Leafhoppers (Cicadellidae): A diverse family with 20,000 species, some of which are important plant
pests; many communicate with each other by vibrating their messages through a shared substrate. (G) Cuckoo wasps (Chrysididae): Striking
armored wasps that enter nests of other bees—virtually impermeable to stings—to lay their eggs in brood cells of a host bee. (H) Tortoise beetles
(Chrysomelidae): Mostly tropical plant feeders; this larva is advertising its unpalatability with bold yellow, black, and cream colors. (I) Mantises
(Mantidae): These voracious sit-and-wait predators have acute eyesight and rapid predatory strikes; prey are instantly impaled and held in place
by the sharp foreleg spines. (J) Emerald moths (Geometridae): Diverse family of primarily forest insects; their caterpillars include the familiar
inchworms. (K) Tiger beetles (Cicindelidae): “Tigers” use acute vision and long legs to run down their prey, which are dispatched with their huge
jaws. (L) Planthoppers (Fulgoridae): Tropical family of splendid insects, whose snouts are curiously varied and, in a few lineages, account for half
the body mass. Images credit: Michael Thomas (photographer).
action is needed on behalf of nature. Actions taken as individuals, environmental policies. Immediately and across all nations, peo-
groups, nations, and members of a global community are needed ple must find solutions to slow climate change (1, 41) and lessen
to address issues relating to insect diversity across multiple fronts the impacts of global agriculture, especially by slowing its ex-
(14, 85). Individuals can adopt behaviors that mitigate drivers pansion in the tropics (1, 29). Shared goals should be to change
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of insect and biodiversity declines (28), vote for nature-friendly societal attitudes about insects, dispel misperceptions, and con-
legislators and legislation, and promote local and global vey to others that insects are crucial components of functioning
8 of 10 | PNAS Wagner et al.
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023989118 Insect decline in the Anthropocene: Death by a thousand cutsecosystems that also provide a diversity of cultural services, including in Fig. 1; Kennedy Marshall assisted with graphic design and figure preparation.
aesthetic (Fig. 5), recreational, and health benefits. Scientists must Mike Thomas supplied the images for Fig. 5. iNaturalist’s creator and co-Direc-
tor, Ken-ichi Ueda provided the data for Fig. 3. Steve Nanz shared data for Moth
educate a wider population about the ecological, economic, and Photographer’s Group website visitations; and Larry Gall provided the Global
scientific value of arthropods and find ways to integrate insects and Biodiversity Information Facility metrics. Scott Black, David Cappaert, Richard
other arthropods into the fabric of daily human life (27, 28). Fox, Caspar Hallmann, Winnie Hallwachs, Dan Janzen, Akito Kawahara, Tanner
Matson, Graham Montgomery, Peter Raven, Lawrence Reeves, Nick Roden-
Acknowledgments house, Tim Schowalter, Mike Thomas, Virginia Wagner, and Michael Willig
The Entomological Society of America helped with the planning and supported made helpful suggestions on earlier drafts of this essay. This work was partially
the travel of international contributors. Virginia Wagner contributed the artwork funded by an award from the Richard P. Garmany Foundation to D.L.W.
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